She loved a soldier

She loved a shoulder to cry on

She loved a soldier and a shoulder to cry on too

She saw a soldier, comin’ down, and he was makin’ breakfast like her father in India

She saw a soldier comin’, go’on down, and makin’ breakfast like her grandmother in Tamil Nadu and she stopped

 

 

 

She saw a soldier comin’ down and makin’ breakfast for a friend and she stopped and smiled and said I need to eat too, don’t east alone

 

She saw a soldier comin’ down and makin’ breakfast for a friend and he said, come and eat also, and I’ll tell ya a story of war and I’ll let you be a friend and we’ll eat breakfast

 

And he began to tell her a story and said it was March of 1914 and a mathematician from India came to Cambridge and met another mathematician named Neville before he met another mathematician named Hardy

 

And the woman saw the soldier and said are you a soldier or what?

 

And the soldier said I work for the United States Army Corps of Engineers, and I’d like to tell you about mathematics and about the number 1729 that can be expressed as a sum of cubes, and do you love mathematics?

 

And the woman said no I like language and I’m a linguist and I speak five Indian languages including Dravidian based languages like Tamil and Telugu

 

And this woman realized she was hungry and said I know who you’re talking about and I’m from the same village as Ramanujan, and I like to eat meat because I’ve adjusted to the lifestyle here, and do you celebrate the Fourth of July?

 

And the man said, on the Fourth of July, I read the Russian newspaper and think about what they are thinking about in Moscow

 

And the woman said I like to think about North Korea and basketball

 

And the man began to sing about his love for reason and rhythm and this is what he said

 

Let it come with reason within your mind, tanak tune

Let it come with reason within your mind and in your heart too, tanak tune, and I like Daler

Let it come with reason within your mind and in your heart too, tanak tune, and I like Daler, and let it come with emotions that live with you

 

And she said, that jeeilive with you, continue, sir soldier, I don’t like music from Punjab, but I love Punjabi food

 

Let it come with reason within your mind and in your heart too and with emotions that jeeilive with you and this means?

 

Let it live with you it means, and my village was Erode by the Kaveri River; I can show you on an atlas, and have you heard of the Farmer’s Almanac?

 

I don’t jeeiknow about the Farmer’s Almanac, but I can tell you about erosion of dreams, and of Langston Hughes building a home

 

And the woman said I don’t know if I am safe with you here, but I will listen about Langston Hughes, because it is something unusual, and I like to think about unusual things

 

What do you do, may I ask, said the soldier who wore green pants with beige patches of shapes

 

I’m an artist, and I teach literature to children in jails

And she begins to draw in the sand, while finishing a piece of smoked bacon, and speaks

 

The grounding

Is something that pertains to beauty

 

I think of visuals

And so many see this and love to sit on colored sand

 

I am touched by something in "Oppenheimer"

It was a man who didn't say anything by a body of water, perhaps

 

 

 

 

And a man listens to opera and helps a boy smile

 

 

 

A saint came but didn't cover him with a blanket

 

And so, I wonder about life needing something more

 

 

 

And the man cooked more bacon and said he thinks he needs a hand and the woman said I’ll finish drawing here

 

 

And they wait for a reason to move